NRO’s
Andrew McCarthy wrote a recent
column about the plight of the two Border Patrol agents now serving
long prison terms after being vigorously prosecuted by US attorney Johnny
Sutton. Only McCarthy doesn’t describe the agents’ situation as a “plight”.
In fact, he seems even more enthusiastic than Sutton that the agents are
in prison for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler in the butt.

McCarthy
arrogantly pontificates in his piece that the agents are guilty as sin,
and that anyone who thinks differently must be woefully ignorant of the
facts. In particular he singled out WorldNetDaily, a popular website
that has done a lot of reporting on the case. He also “called out” Sara
A. Carter of California’s Inland Valley Daily Bulletin plus internet
columnist Sher Zieve for their defense of the agents.

As Sher
Zieve points out in her follow
up column, McCarthy relies heavily on information that has now been
discredited. DHS Inspector General Robert Skinner admitted this past week
that his top deputies gave members of congress false information that
portrayed BP agents Ramos and Compean as “rogue cops”. McCarthy buys into
Sutton’s premise that the agents wanted to “shoot some Mexicans”, or as
he put it, “the agents certainly wanted to shoot one particular Mexican”
– referring to the illegal alien drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila.
McCarthy seems far more concerned over the “cover-up” by the agents (they
removed the bullet casings and failed to file a report – something that
by all accounts should have amounted to a five-day suspension), than the
fact that Aldrete-Davila was attempting to bring nearly 750 ponds of dope
into the US. He also seems equally unconcerned that Johnny Sutton gave
this dope peddler immunity for testifying in a trial that handed down
obscene sentences against the two agents, one of whom was recently beaten
in prison – in all probability by illegal aliens. McCarthy chooses not
to believe agent Compean’s contention that he thought the smuggler was
armed, despite the fact that the path of the bullet is clearly described
as entering in the left side of the left buttocks, traveling through the
groin area, and lodging in the right thigh – consistent with someone turning
to aim a weapon.

There
are many twists and turns in this story that saw Sutton give immunity
to the illegal drug smuggler in exchange for his testimony against the
two agents. It is becoming more and more clear that are many
problems and downright contradictions with the government’s case.

McCarthy
went on to say, “You want to argue about the sentences being too severe?
That’s fair.” McCarthy may have conceded that it’s “fair” but he certainly
doesn’t choose to argue the case. One is left with the definite impression
that McCarthy would prefer to see these two agents, one of whom had been
nominated for Border Patrol “agent of the year”, remain locked up indefinitely.
Perhaps McCarthy would like to send the prison some special leg-irons
in order to punish them further. He might also consider assisting Aldrete-Davila
with his $5 million lawsuit against the U.S. for violating his “civil
rights” – a case that most assuredly would never have seen the light of
day had Johnny Sutton not cut the immunity deal that brought back Aldrete-Davila
to begin with.

There
are probably two reasons for McCarthy’s zeal in bashing WND and other
writers who have been keeping the story going. One is that WorldNetDaily
is probably seen as an “upstart” conservative publication. In the process,
they have attained an internet readership that rivals and perhaps even
surpasses National Review Online.

The
second reason is that NRO in recent times seems to have forgotten their
conservative roots. In many ways they have become nothing more than mouthpieces
for the Bush Administration. The entire immigration issue is a hot button
for many conservatives who now find themselves at odds with this president
- a president who favors amnesty for millions of illegal aliens and refuses
to control the border. A president who has finally promised to “review”
the case of Compean and Ramos, but only after enormous pressure from the
conservative base.

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McCarthy
wanted to “‘splain” this case to Sher Zieve (and to everyone else who
disagrees with him.) Well, I have a little “‘splaining” where NRO is concerned.
Their slavish devotion to the Bush Administration extends to peripheral
issues such as the Border Patrol agents’ case. They know that immigration
is the White House’s achilles heel, and that this case has the ability
to explode like a powder keg. So, NRO will naturally do all they can to
downplay the case.

Sorry,
but being lackeys for the Bush Administration no longer cuts it among
true conservatives.

His interest in politics began at
the age of eight, when his parents took him to a Barry Goldwater rally
during the 1964 presidential election. In addition to his work at CHCH,
Chip's columns have appeared in a number of online conservative publications.